Dems step up push for mail-in voting

Democrats and voting rights groups on Thursday pressed President Trump and Republicans to support more funding for elections this year, saying it was crucial to ensure people vote as part of the next coronavirus stimulus package.

Lawmakers and voting advocacy groups took part in what amounted to a sustained campaign calling for the country to ensure people could cast votes either in person or by mail despite the coronavirus crisis.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) argued on one press call Thursday that at least $1.6 billion more was needed to guarantee Americans could vote in November.

“This next month is critical for our democracy, I can’t think of another time when we faced something quite like this in terms of our limitations,” Klobuchar told reporters. “I think we can do this, I really do, we simply must make sure that people have the right to vote.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wants to include more funding for mail-in and absentee voting in the next stimulus measure, which followed her efforts last month to get $4 billion for elections included in the $2.2 trillion measure signed into law last week.

The proposal has support from other Democrats, but they face opposition from Trump and other Republicans who oppose requirements on how states would be able to spend the money.

Trump said this week that election changes proposed by Democrats would hurt Republican chances to win elections in November.

“The things they had in there were crazy, they had things, levels of voting that if you ever agreed to, you would never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said of the original House stimulus proposal during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” The proposal included requirements for states to expand both in-person and mail-in voting.